New data monitoring device to be introduced

Energy consultancy firm EON Consulting will introduce the new Check Meter that it is currently developing at this year’s African Utility Week, which will be held in Cape Town from May 17 to 19.

The energy monitoring and uploading device will assist municipalities in the end-of- month energy balancing of all the meters on a street to the total energy provided by the transformer feeding the street.

The meter uses noninvasive monitoring techniques and can be installed on feeders and networks with output lower than 110 kV. It uploads collected data values every 30 seconds to a central server through a wide-area radio network using a 128 bit encryption key. This enables municipalities to have real-time network observability at low cost, and rapidly identify and locate nontechnical losses.

The Check Meter only monitors and uploads specific status and analogue data values to the server. Once the data has been received by the server, customer-defined Web pages are used to access the data, which can then be displayed in one-line diagrams, geographic maps or tables.

It also has a number of different formats that include an optional global positioning system module, a secure digital card data logger and up to 12 control relays, which can be used to receive control signals for devices connected to the meter.

EON Consulting MD Bertha Dlamini says that participation in African Utility Week has multiple benefits for the company, including the opportunity to gain exposure to the latest energy distribution technology across all sources of energy and key case studies on distribution.

The event also provides a platform for the discussion of possible solutions to the major challenges that utilities in Africa face. International delegates will share their insights, expertise and experiences, shaped by the vary- ing stages of industry maturity in different countries regarding electricity consumption and generation, she adds.

Moreover, Dlamini indicates that the event offers the opportunity to network with partners in the energy value chain. It widens the company’s customer base by providing existing and potential customers with further information on EON’s offerings and insights into the utility-related market through a visible platform and face-to-face discussion with company experts. It will also enable the company to showcase its solutions, and benchmark these against competitors.

“We prize this opportunity to interact with . . . high-level representatives and decision-makers,” says Dlamini, adding that, amid an electricity crisis in South Africa, the event further enables EON Consulting to add real value to the industry through its inte- grated solutions and expertise.

Further, EON will showcase a number of solutions that are based on the company’s combined strength in several fields, including business and engineering, as well as information and communication technology.

“These solutions aim to address various challenges that the industry is facing, such as those related to the development of large-scale power generation, the generation of clean power/green energy, the drought crisis and general water management, infrastructure development and financing, the transmission and distribution of energy, the use of smart grids and improving the efficiency of utility management support in South Africa,” adds Dlamini.

EON Consulting has exhibited at the event for the past five years and will return this year as one of its silver sponsors.